Memsstar’s rising export hopes after funding deal

MARTIN FLANAGAN

A Livingston-based semi-conductor group is targeting a 60 per cent jump in turnover within two years fuelled by an export drive following a bank and government funding deal.

Memsstar said that the deal with Santander Corporate & Commercial, supported by a guarantee from the government’s UK Export Finance arm, is aimed at helping it grow its annual turnover of £8 million to £13m.

Exports already account for 90 per cent of the firm’s semiconductor products and services, and the group said it is “looking to capitalise on this momentum in key markets such as Europe, the US and Asia, among others”.

Germany is the company’s main market, currently accounting for about 50 per cent of revenues. Memsstar is a semiconductor equipment remanufacturer and services provider, sometimes refashioning secondhand microchips to address a customer’s specific needs.

The scale of the funding deal was not disclosed, but the company said it was “significant”. Keith Rutter, Memsstar’s finance director, said the new financing facility “will provide the company with a source of working capital to enable the ongoing development of our customer base and ensure that we remain competitive for our existing customers”.

Gina Cleife, of Santander Corporate & Commercial, said the bank was “delighted” to be able to help Memsstar’s “clear ambitions to work with high volume manufacturers”.

Jonathan Leonard, senior export finance adviser at UK Export Finance, said it was “a great example of how a government guarantee can work alongside a trade specialist bank to help a leading, innovative UK firm”.